Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author Katherine Boo to Speak at Adelphi

The author of Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity will be at the university on February 24. End Quote

Nassau-Suffolk, NY (1888PressRelease) January 30, 2014 - Katherine Boo, Pulitzer Prize winner and best-selling author of Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity, will speak to Adelphi students and the broader community about her book. Published in 2012, Behind the Beautiful Forevers follows the lives of several residents of a present day slum in Mumbai, India. The Adelphi Class of 2017 has been studying the story as part of the University's AU Reads Program. The event will take place on Monday, February 24 at 7:00 p.m. in the Ruth S. Harley University Ballroom, 1 South Avenue, Garden City, NY and is free and open to the public.

A work of narrative nonfiction, Behind the Beautiful Forevers offers a vivid description of life in a slum of an Indian megacity. Based on Boo's own reporting over almost four years, the book reveals the true stories of several residents of the Annawadi slum, a makeshift settlement near the Mumbai airport. Some of Boo's characters are: teenager Abdul, a garbage sorter accused of a crime he didn't commit, Asha, a women seeking power through political corruption, and Kalu, a scrap metal thief.

The book's numerous awards include The National Book Award, The Los Angeles Times Book Award, The American Academy of Arts & Letters Award in Literature, and others. It was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award and appeared on many top ten best books of the year and best books of the year lists including the New York Times Book Review, the Washington Post, O Magazine, and others.

A staff writer at The New Yorker since 2003, Katherine Boo became familiar with Mumbai through her husband Sunil Khilnani, who was born in India. In 2009 she wrote an article for the magazine about her experiences in Annawadi in response to the premiere of Slumdog Millionaire. Prior to joining The New Yorker, Boo worked as an investigative reporter for the Washington Post where she won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for her series on the treatment of intellectually disabled individuals in group homes. Boo graduated summa cum laude from Barnard College.

To see a video preview of the book, visit http://students.adelphi.edu/gettingstarted/reading.php.

About Adelphi University:
Adelphi is a world class, modern university with excellent and highly relevant programs where students prepare for lives of active citizenship and professional careers. Through its schools and programs-The College of Arts and Sciences, Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies, Honors College, Ruth S. Ammon School of Education, University College, Robert B. Willumstad School of Business, College of Nursing and Public Health and the School of Social Work-the co-educational university offers undergraduate and graduate degrees as well as professional and educational programs for adults.

Adelphi University currently enrolls nearly 8,000 students from 43 states and 45 foreign countries. With its main campus in Garden City and centers in Manhattan, Hauppauge, and Poughkeepsie, the University, chartered in 1896, maintains a commitment to liberal studies in tandem with rigorous professional preparation and active citizenship.

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